Queens Club Tennis

mranderson · 19 Jun 2012 at 21:03

$10k only????????????
How much compensation?

One More Solo · 20 Jun 2012 at 07:40

£10,000 is laughable given how much prize money these players make.

gambitt · 20 Jun 2012 at 10:54

Nalbandian doesn't make a whole lot of prize money these days

Besides, anyone who gets caught doing 33mph in a 30 gets a £60 fine - doesn't matter if they make £1000 a day or on the dole so I disagree with your protest.

semi-pro waster · 20 Jun 2012 at 13:34

gambitt said:
Nalbandian doesn't make a whole lot of prize money these days

Besides, anyone who gets caught doing 33mph in a 30 gets a £60 fine - doesn't matter if they make £1000 a day or on the dole so I disagree with your protest.

However £10k as a maximum is not necessarily fair either if it hasn't taken account of the jumps in prize money since they were first considered. There are plenty of fines that are means tested, you could equally look to dangerous driving where in addition to a mandatory disqualification the fine is variable and potentially unlimited based on the seriousness of offence/means of the offender.

gambitt · 20 Jun 2012 at 14:52

So given that this not a serious offence, the fine should be pretty small. £10k fine PLUS taking away his prize money (£40k) and ranking points for reaching the final is more than enough.

semi-pro waster · 20 Jun 2012 at 19:17

gambitt said:
So given that this not a serious offence, the fine should be pretty small. £10k fine PLUS taking away his prize money (£40k) and ranking points for reaching the final is more than enough.

Let's take out the argument about the seriousness of this particular offence for a second - more generally €10,000 as a maximum fine is not a large amount comparative to the prize money on offer at the major tournaments. I'm not sure when the amounts were last revised but I'd suspect they haven't been revised for a while because otherwise you might expect them to be somewhat proportional to earnings.

Going back to this particular offence - it's a physical assault against a linesman which is/was still being investigated last time I checked. Granted he didn't beat him about the head with a racquet but it's definitely at the more serious end of the scale.

Merlin5 · 20 Jun 2012 at 20:10

semi-pro waster said:
Going back to this particular offence - it's a physical assault against a linesman which is/was still being investigated last time I checked. Granted he didn't beat him about the head with a racquet but it's definitely at the more serious end of the scale.

But stupid as his actions were, it wasn't intent to kick and hurt the linesman as in GBH. It was indirect, he kicked the board with blind anger without thinking of the consequence. Whether the board or his foot or both made contact with him, it was an accident. Certainly I think the linesman should be compensated though.

semi-pro waster · 20 Jun 2012 at 21:43

Merlin5 said:
But stupid as his actions were, it wasn't intent to kick and hurt the linesman as in GBH. It was indirect, he kicked the board with blind anger without thinking of the consequence. Whether the board or his foot or both made contact with him, it was an accident. Certainly I think the linesman should be compensated though.

No and if there was an implication that it was as serious as GBH then that was unintentional but if you swing your fist (or foot) without due care with regard to who you might hit then it's still an assault, your intention (or lack of it) doesn't change that.

In terms of unsportsmanlike conduct though it's at the more serious end of the scale when at the lesser end you've got verbal assaults and the like.

HangTime · 20 Jun 2012 at 22:57

mranderson said:
Was surprised by the crowd wanting the game to continue. I am sure most saw what happened.

I wouldn't be so sure, I know when I'm at sporting events I don't keep track of everything that happens 'off the ball'. Also it happened pretty quick and when you see it at full speed from some angles you might not even see the real extent of it. I read a comment from somebody who was there who said they wanted the game to continue at the time but revised their opinion having seen the footage.

gambitt · 21 Jun 2012 at 10:48

semi-pro waster said:
Let's take out the argument about the seriousness of this particular offence for a second - more generally €10,000 as a maximum fine is not a large amount comparative to the prize money on offer at the major tournaments. I'm not sure when the amounts were last revised but I'd suspect they haven't been revised for a while because otherwise you might expect them to be somewhat proportional to earnings.

Going back to this particular offence - it's a physical assault against a linesman which is/was still being investigated last time I checked. Granted he didn't beat him about the head with a racquet but it's definitely at the more serious end of the scale.

Like I said, he had a £10k fine PLUS a £40k loss of prize money, so he's been punished to the tune of £50k PLUS ranking points (which could mean further loss of earnings in future). I note that you neglected to comment on this point and just focused on the assault itself.

What do you want him to cough up? £500k? If a random bloke did this, he wouldn't be fined by his employer or clients. IF it went to court he might get a £60 fine.